A Master Gardener's masterpiece

Sep. 4, 2013

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JAN PETERSON | PHOTOS BY JESS HEUGEL | FOR THE NEWS-LEADER

Frank and Lynette Weaver will open their gardens not only to Master Gardeners, but to the public later in the day.

Want to see?

Lynette and Frank Weaver invite the public to tour their garden for free from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 22 at 428 Timberview Road in Highlandville. 18th Annual Missouri Master Gardener State Conference

When: Sept. 20-22 Where: Ramada Plaza Hotel and Oasis Convention Center, 2546 N. Glenstone Ave., and other Ozarks locations Cost: $180 per person. A la carte registration for advanced training courses is available for Master Gardeners who can’t attend the full conference. Info: 417-414-0363 or www.missourimastergardener.orgEvents: Find a schedule of events in this story online.

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To say Lynette Weaver has a passion for gardening might be an understatement.

The Master Gardener emeritus has spent years and countless hours scheming, planting, building, nurturing, and yes, even decorating her gardens.

With the help of husband Frank, Lynette has created grounds that rival those at botanical gardens. A vast water garden features a stream bed and large pond where koi and goldfish follow Lynette around, apparently under the impression they’re about to be fed.

But the water garden and plants are only part of the story.

“I like to decorate stuff up and put cute little cuties around. That to me is what the fun of it is — not just the growing, but the decorating,” she says.

This year, she and Frank have really outdone themselves. Lynette says she started decorating her gardens for Halloween when her grandchildren were younger, but this time, she’s upped the ante.

During the upcoming Master Gardener State Conference, the Weavers’ garden will be one of several area ones open for Master Gardeners to tour. Lynette decided that since they’re already decorating for one tour, they might as well open the gardens to the public to tour for free.

Getting ready has been a lot of hot work, but already ghosts, witches, ghouls, spiders and pumpkins are peeking out from colorful, vibrant beds.

Lynette says determining how to get the ghosts upright took some trial and error. The first time she did it, she and a friend drove metal fence posts into their rocky Highlandville soil. It seemingly took forever, she says, and the idea she came up with to make heads for the ghosts wasn’t her best.

“We finally got them in there,” she says of the posts. “And then I made these heads of out chicken wire. I tell you, that was terrible. I bloodied my hands and everything.”

Lynette has one chicken-wire head remaining and says this is the last year for that.

She also got smarter about the fence posts.

“We put fence posts in strategic places in the garden so foliage would cover them in the spring … and in the fall, I’d put my ghosts on them,” she explains.

Lynette says she finds inspiration everywhere she looks. Magazines and websites help, but she says she often finds ideas while scouting flea markets and garage sales. While her garden is looking more Halloween-like every day, she says she’s still on the lookout for decorative items to add in time for the tour.

Lynette says all of the extra work is more than worth it.

“I like the Master Gardeners so much and feel so obligated for everything they taught me, there was no way I could say no,” she says.